The process of recruiting rat killers for the suburbs, where the rodent population is growing unchecked, has made little progress since the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received a communication from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), New Delhi, asking it not to employ cruel means of eliminating the creatures.

The island city has 44 night rat killers, whereas the suburbs have none. Fed up with the rodent menace, corporators from both the western and the eastern suburbs have for long demanded the appointment of rat killers for the suburbs.